Chasing the Dark Star
by Mr. Wols
Summary: "In the future, bending is a rare mutation, something to be feared. Mankind has forgotten its past as it reached into the stars, focusing on technology and colonization rather than faith and balance. Corporations run everything, and when a Future Industries ship is destroyed over the planet Shen, nothing is as it seems in the search for the truth of it's demise." Sci-Fi AU fic.
1. Opportunities

****Chasing The Dark Star****

**"******Opportunities"****

She closed her eyes with a quiet sigh and rubbed her temples. She kept the comm line muted as she took a sip of her jasmine tea. She held the small glass cup in both hands, enjoying the feel of the hand crafted glass, the raised flower design pushing against her palm. She took another sip and savored the sweet flavor before taking a deep breath and looking to her terminal. She had muted the man as soon as he started to rant. While, yes, she was meant to actually hear his proposal, he had done nothing but recite the same idea as the other six division heads and smaller CEO's had said. She'd had quite enough of their anger. So she would simply mute them for a moment and sip her tea, enjoying the fragrance as she watched the comm line dance on her terminal. She was more than a little curious as to why they objected to her veto quite so much. The usual motives were there: lust for money and greed, more factories and more power. But they could have that on any other world just as well as this one. But this one was a core planet, an old world that was colonized long ago, but that wasn't the issue. This couldn't be any simple act of greed, not from all the subsidiaries at once. She clicked a button and sat silently as his voice came back through. It seemed like no time had passed as he was still ranting at her with no indication he even knew he was ever muted. While he said his piece more politely than others, he was saying the same things. She took a deep breath and looked out at her view of the city. It streched as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was tall enough to touch the clouds and deep enough to never truly see the bottom. But she knew there was a whole planet out there. The city, while massive in scale, didn't cover the entire planet. Beyond her vision, just out of reach, were the traditionalist sectors: the old abandoned towers and massive farmlands. The old temples and small communities built around them. She knew they were nestled against the mountains and hidden the in the valleys stretching away in waves of green and blue. She knew of smaller cities and ports lining the beaches where earth met ocean. They were things a painter would dream of. It was a planet full of natural beauty; but that was all beyond her reach. She was trapped in a glass tower, trapped by her success, with only herself to blame. __And my beloved father___,_ she mused with a wry smile. It took a moment to come back from her imagination, but she could once again hear the man talk at her. She turned back to the monitor, taking another sip of her tea watching the wave lengths bounce as he spoke.

"Mr. Takashi, please settle down." she spoke slowly and loudly, as if to a child, hiding her annoyance at him like a professional should. It was several moments before his blustering stopped. "Why must it be the temple?" she said it bluntly, knowing it would annoy him. "Why not ask for land outside the city? There is a whole planet under us, and a lot of free space. You could ask for any swath of land and I would help you get it, but you, just like everyone else, demand the temple dome be torn down and the monks expelled so the land can be used for whatever it is you were ranting about before. So I ask, out of this whole planet, this whole system actually, why do you all ask for the temples?" she stood, her chair rolling across the gleaming white floor until it halted against the small table holding a bonsai tree in the corner. She walked around her desk, her short heels clicking with every step. She let her hand run across the old wood and smiles as she feels every fiber and grain of the desk in her hand. She had it brought from the old world: an ancient thing carved from a solid piece of blood wood generations ago when people cared about craftsmanship and elegance. It was one of her guilty pleasures; not just the desk, but the tea cup as well. Her chair and her shoes, the table in the corner and the little bonsai tree. Even her clothing was hand crafted. She loved things crafted by hand. She loved to know that her things were crafted by someone who loved to it, someone who poured love into their work as they made it by hand instead of machinery. She once again pulled herself back to the situation at hand. He had yet to reply by the time she rounded the desk, so she raised raised her cup and sipped the tea again, closing her eyes and enjoying the simple pleasure it gave her.

"Ms. Sato... I know you are young and have yet to fully grasp the opportunities set before as branch manager..." she let out a small _mmm _as she sipped the tea and muttered to stop him.

"_Future Industries Shen Branch ___President, __Mr. Takashi, I have a plaque on my desk and everything." she wasn't joking either. She set the small ornate tea cup down on the plate with a small clink and turned the plaque, the gold inlays flickering from the ceiling light. She frowned at it, she didn't like the title, nor her __opportunities__. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"My apologies, President Sato... but as I was saying, the land these archaic temples inhabited could be used to gain huge profits in only you would utilize them. I understand you are too young to know the danger these temples pose to use all. The harbor terrorists and mutants alike _and_ they fund raids on the transports that keep the outer colonies alive. You haven't experienced first hand the absolute __horror __that is an attack from one of these monsters. They are deranged savages and need to be routed at the source." she rolled her eyes and turned her monitor, typing in commands and clicking her tongue.

"You are right, Mr. Takashi, I am young. Very young given my position. I guess I should thank my father for that. You say you know the danger a bender brings, I know that last month alone the death toll from pirate crews with benders aboard were staggering. And I know that those are the numbers you use to scare your people; but the deaths from benders, pirate benders and every other sort of bender you could imagine were still only a fraction of the overall deaths in the shipping industry. In fact, bending related deaths account for only two-percent of the death toll annually. The pollution from your factories kill more people than these, __deranged savages___." s_he waited a moment, tapping her chin as she considered the prompt on her monitor. "You call the temples archaic, but over a third of our consumers believe in the old ways. Just think, if you even can, about how much money we would lose by tearing down such important religious centers. And try, if you are capable, to think back to the history of the colonies and that one of the first structures built on every settled planet was an elemental temple. Would do you think would happen if we removed the centers of faith from the masses?" she frowned at her empty cup, wheeling her chair back to the desk and sitting down, crossing one leg over the other. She waited for his reply, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the chair. She waited and waited as he tried to find the right words.

"We would recover. And the traditionalists would still have the stations." She almost laughed at him. __How could a man with so much power have so little understanding of the way of things___. _Men like him often made her wonder how they ever reached the stars. She pushed a strand of her thick black hair behind her ear.

"Are you saying we would recover from years of turmoil and open rebellion caused by the destruction of sacred lands by using the stations? The stations built and maintained by the monks you wish to disturb? Those stations are some of the largest trading post in the system and I doubt they would take kindly to open violence against their order. Mr. Takashi, over our conversation it has become clear to me that you are using fear and economic gain as a basis to try and further your own prejudices and that this issue has no concern of the temples." she reaches to the monitor, clicking the prompt and typing in one final command. "It is quite clear that you are not suited for the tasks given to you. As of today you are no longer part of the Future Industries family and all of your automated factories are to be shutdown and your workforce will be brought over to the Shen branch. Goodbye Mr. Takashi." a series of status checks rolled down the thin screen, turning green to red as the comm link closed and the monitor folded into the desk. Asami sighed, turning her chair to once again look at the view, tracing the cities skyline and studying the large dome. It's a beautiful thing, just visible past a series of towers. A dome made of streamlined metal, gleaming white and red and blue and green all at once. The colors shifting in impossible ways with each breeze. She closed her eyes again, breathing deeply and clicking as small button on the arm of her chair, losing herself, just for a moment in the strings of the traditional fire nation music. Losing herself in the idea of living in such a simple time, a time when a bender was just as common as anyone else. A time when they wouldn't be prosecuted for what they were. But it was just a fantasy. Those days have long since ended, if they had ever started to begin with.

She opened her eyes slowly, realizing she had dazed off as the sun had lowered in the sky. She was glad though, she knew she wouldn't lose any sleep over costing the company billions of credits. She watched as the last light of the dying day played and danced off the shuttles zooming through the sky the people. She stood, walking slowly to the window, ignoring the slight hiss of her office door sliding open as she traced a finger on the dome. She watched with tired eyes as the colors continued to shift. __So beautiful___. _She yawned and watched as the first stars gleamed in the sky. She smiled as a shooting star streaked across the sky she was tempted to make a wish, but it would not have been a good one, so she thought better of it. Then another streaked across the sky. _Two? _Then another and some more. Her smile faded as she realized it was debris from something in orbit. The woman who entered stood next to her. She was well built, her gray hair pulled tight in a pony tail. The worn leather tench coat made seem bigger than she was as she crossed her arms. She watched as the fireballs fell from the sky and struck the city in the distance.

"Ms. Sato... one of your fathers personal cargo vessels was attacked before it reached the station. No numbers but it looks like it was all hands lost." she said it coldly, simply stating the facts. Asami frowned, tracing her finger along the path off one of the larger fireballs. _All hands lost? What would drive raiders this close to the core planets? And to attack a ship so close to dock_... she furrowed her brow. She knew what it must look like up there. Hulls splitting apart, what little air still in the ships fueling the fires and the crew, dying by fire or asphyxiation as the defense guns spat out what resistance they could.

"Lin, get me the manifest for that vessel, and all reports you can find on the situation. Take care of this personally. Something isn't right." Asami didn't move as she spoke, she simply watched as more and more streaks filled the sky, lighting it up as if it were a festival. Lin, nodded and turned on her heel. "And Ms. Beifong, have Pao bring me more tea, we have work to do. When word of this attack reaches the public, there might be a frenzy and I don't think we have enough troops in the SSF to handle it if so." _what were you shipping, father?_ She had to find out what her father was up to.


	2. I'm not just an engineer

**"******I'm not just an engineer..."****

"No... nope... no, no, no. No, Bolin. Okay? My answer is no." but Bolin leaned closer into the cabin, his big green eyes screaming __please___. _He leaned in further, his eyes reflecting on the white face plate. "Dammit, Bolin, I said no!" he exclaimed rather loudly. Bolin half tripped, half drug himself into the cabin, whining as he went.

"Aw, come on Khan. It'll be fun." he moped over to Khan's desk, plopping into his chair and spinning till his feet hit the wall before returning the other way.

"Fun? Bolin, you want to break into the cargo hold." Khan was none too pleased with Bolin's incessant whining over the situation. And Bolin had been overly upset by his refusal, as they both could clearly see. Bolin planted his feet, stopping the chair and slumping down, letting his arms dangle at his sides.

"It's not breaking in. It's more like... staying at the museum after hours. Nobody cares so long as everything's where it was in the morning." he raised his shoulders and put on his best smile, to no effect.

"The authorities care! When have you ever even been to a museum?" Khan stepped back and sat on his bed, removing his helmet. Like everything else on the ship, it was white with the Future Industries logo stamped on the front. He set his helmet on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"That's not the point." Bolin waved his hands in front of him to change the subject.

"Then what is the point?" Khan said impatiently. He was already twenty minutes behind on his sleep and was eager to get some before the docking. But Bolin was full of energy, and rather insistent on doing this together. He danced around in the chair, trying to distract him.

"Think of all the cool stuff that's in there!" he said enthusiastic. He points at Khan's chest, more specifically to his standard issue guard vest. "Maybe there's some of that new hard-plate ballistic riot gear in there. I heard from Ling in maintenance on the Ox station that that stuff could stop a grenade. Well, the armor would be fine at least, but maybe not the guy inside." his eyes drifted to the monitor as he spoke.

"And what does Ling know about riot gear? That guy is freaking nutcase who doesn't get planet side enough. The vacuum will make you crazy Bolin, but I think it might be to late for you." he picked a piece of lint of his blue uniform. Security gear was one of the things on the ship that didn't have to be white, something Khan enjoyed greatly. "And so what if there's cool stuff in there. It's like a museum, remember? Look but don't touch. And besides, I know for a fact that the hold is full of supplies for the station when we dock. Not high tech gear for elite troopers." he pointed at Bolin, emphasizing his point. "Maybe there's some tranquilizers in there to calm you down." Bolin lit up, straightening and looking at Khan.

"So you'll go?" he asked. But Khan just shook his head, rubbing his tired eyes.

"No, Bolin, I won't." he said it with a a sigh. He was tired of this. He was tired of Bolin, to an extant. Yes, they were friends, but the man was taxing.

"You know, if you had some of that gear you would be a better guard." Bolin stated, like it was some great revaluation or that it wasn't a purely dumb statement.

"That's just it Bolin, I'm just a ship guard. I'm not some super trooper from the SSF out in the rim fighting pirates. My job is to walk around the ship and make sure idiots like you get enough attention so you don't break something." he stated it, rather than said it.

"HEY, I am a great engineer." Bolin stated in factual tone. "I haven't had a citation in over two months." he waved his finger at Khan as he said it. But Khan just laughed.

"Yeah, and what was your last citation for?" he asked, knowing the answer. Bolin crossed his arms and leaned back. "Come on Bolin." he grumbled something and Khan leaned forward, cupping his hand over his ear. "I couldn't hear you, what?"

"Tampering." Bolin stated again, dejected, picking a loose strand from his gray uniform.

"Tampering, that's right. And what was it with? No wait, let me guess. You were trying to mess with some system that's out of your pay grade." he finished with a hint of frustration.

"No..." Bolin interjected, "I was just... trying to reconfigure the heating valves for the aft section showers so I could have hot water." he spins around, talking like it was no big deal. He hated the aft section water. It was always luke warm.

"Bolin, you shut off life support for the aft hold and caused a rupture in the cooling unit for the starboard engine. And how does that not count as an accident?" Bolin spun back around, inching the chair closer to Khan, scrambling his legs on the slick floor.

"That wasn't supposed to happen. If Chan hadn't tried to stop me we'd all have real hot water. But... now we don't have any. And nobody got hurt." he shoved his finger in Khan's face. "And when was the last time you tried to do something helpful?" Khan smacked Bolin's finger away and shoved the chair back.

"The only reason they keep you around is because you are the only one who can get the stuff you break working again. So, are we done with this sneaking into the cargo hold thing? I'm not in the mood to look at fruit right now." Bolin stood up quickly, determination on his face.

"We aren't going to __that__hold, we're going to the automated hold. That's where they keep the good stuff." he said like khan was an idiot for not knowing. Khan smacked his forehead.

"Of course we are, I'm such an idiot. Why would we go to the one hold, when the other has security check doors, to which we don't have clearance, and cameras. Just... how does this possibly seem like a good Idea to you?" sometimes Khan worried about Bolin, this was one of those times where one has to ask if he was really sane.

"I could get us past the doors. And we are only two hours from dock, there's no one watching the cameras. We'll already be reassigned by the time they ever bother to check the footage, _if _they check the footage." Bolin walked around the room, pointing and gesturing.

"And the doors?" Khan regretted asking as soon as the word left his mouth. Bolin smiled wide.

"I can hack them." he stated, smiling as Khan stood up and put his hands on Bolin's shoulders.

"You... are... an... engineer. You are not an electronics master hacker type guy. You are a member of FICE, not the tech group. Bolin, you can't hack anything, let alone security doors." Khan's tone resembled that of a doctor's who was giving his patient bad news. But Bolin continued to smile, saying two simple words.

"Mai Li." Khan pulled back, narrowing his eyes.

"Bolin..." he said slowly.

"Mai Li, I know you have been talking to Mai Li in navigation. I know you like her." Khan pulled his hands back, tilting his head to one side. _Why would he know that?_

"Bolin... how do you..." he couldn't form the sentence.

"I hacked your terminal on your last patrol. And you are going about her all wrong." Khan felt his eye twitch upon learning of the __breach__of friendship, let alone protocol.

"Bolin... you hacked my terminal? You... you looked at my private files? You came in here when I wasn't here?" Bolin's smile faded, sensing he may have made a mistake. He was sure this was going to work, up until this point. He stepped away from him, shrinking ever so slightly as Khan stepped closer. His hands shaking as he reached towards Bolin. "You..."

"I can hook you two up!" he squeaked. He didn't really think he could do it, but trying sounded better than dying. Khan stopped and Bolin took his shot. "I eat with her at lunch, I can put in a good word. Get you guys from digital to physical." he said enthusiastically. Khan stepped away. He had been trying for months to get her to look at him as more than just a guard or a friend. "Yeah, I can help you here."

"If?" Khan said, trying to restrain himself, knowing the price he would demand.

"If... you go with me to the automated hold to see what's in there." Bolin's voice raised a little with each word. But Khan just sighed.

"Fine. I'll help you end your career, but if we get caught, I'm saying you blackmailed me. I wont lose my job over this." Bolin almost squeaked with excitement, pumping his fist. "Wait, why are you so eager to get in there?" Bolin stopped and looked at the door, an exaggerated motion as he cupped his hand over his mouth.

"I heard that Mr. Sato... _the _Mr. Sato, called for _this _ship personally and loaded some special cargo last time we fueled up." Khan just sighed again.

"Man, where do you hear this stuff?" it was far from the first crazy theory Bolin had had.

"I didn't just hear it, well I did hear it from a few people, but I checked the logs and we're running at least four tonnes heavier than before we fueled up."

"Wow, you can read." he knew Bolin might actually be right for once, but he wasn't going to let him know that.

"Just go." Bolin muttered as he pushed Khan out the door. He had a secret to find.


	3. Asked and Answered

**"******Asked and Answered"****

The door closed with a hiss and a thud, sealing the room to control the temperature. It wasn't out of place for rooms like these to be hermetically sealed to control the climate, especially at this height. Lin Beifong closed her coat and breathed into her hands, frowning at the steam from her breath. She always hated the server rooms, and the freaky little men who inhabited them. It was dark, very dark, save the pathways deeper into the floor lit by the lights of the servers. There was another thud and a whirring as the lift was pulled away from the floor. She sighed with a puff of steam, if anything were to happen she would be stuck on this floor for some time: the lift being the only way in or out as a matter of security. She moved deeper into the floor, following the blue lined pathways into the darkness. She was careful to be quiet, shuffling more than stepping in the thin layer of mist that never quite left the floor or the sides of the servers. She stopped at a wall and blinked a few times, trying to adjust her eyes to the odd lighting. Left, right and left again. She grumbled and turned left, trying to remember her way through the electronic maze to the central chamber. It was an agitating thought, stumbling her way through a floor she shouldn't be on. But this wasn't the first time Ms. Sato had given her clearance to investigate something that caught her eye. But this was the first time it involved a shipping manifest from a destroyed vessel and accessing the main terminal. The image was still in her mind, the streaks in the sky, the debris and the life pods both breaking up in orbit. She frowned for a moment, rubbing her hands together again. She didn't like to show emotion to those around her, she felt it to be weakness. But the thought of eighty crewman dying so harshly got to her.

She took another turn, trying to avoid the thing following her. She hated the guards on this floor, twisted things moving in the edge of her vision above her, bending in almost unnatural fashion. But she wasn't afraid, just agitated. It had only been a few minutes and she already longed for the open air. She felt her comm vibrate, she reached into the pocket of her long coat, but she stopped to listen to everything around her instead. They were trained to be silent, but this one had grown cocky in it's skills, she closed her eyes and waited. She felt the slight thump of it's weight hitting the floor, the sound of its feet barely touching the ground as it closed in, assuming she wouldn't know. She waited, deciding which way it would come from, her left shoulder or her right, what it would try to strike her with, where. She waited till it was almost on top of her before spinning around, pulling the comm from her pocket and shoving the bright screen into his goggles. His strike flew wide as she grabbed his still outstretched arm while he barreled past, twisting it and pulling it till it was locked behind his back and she shoved him into a server with a resounding thud. He groaned as she held the light in his eyes. She always felt their night vision goggles were a weakness in some cases. She pulled the comm away from him, throwing him to the ground and placing her foot on his chest, the mist billowing away from the disturbance. She pushed down and felt him struggle to breath. He tried to get away, squirming and trying to place the needed strikes on her leg to make it lose feeling but she simply stomped her foot on his chest and shone the light in his eyes again. He cried out and covered his face.

"Please stop! Don't hurt me, I'm just following instructions!" he almost begged and she lifted her foot, letting him scramble away. She looked back at her comm and clicked an icon, waiting for the line to open.

"So am I. Ms. Sato, I haven't reached the central terminal yet, I got... sidetracked." the comm was as long as her hand and as thick as her finger, all black with the Future Industries logo engraved in silver on the back. She lifted the comm in the air and looked around, the guard had slithered away and poked his head around a sever, looking at her, the name of her boss having got his attention.

"Sidetracked? I guess they don't appreciate my clearance there. I'm sorry to have interrupted you then, I'll speak to you after you find the manifest." the line went dead and Lin slid the comm back in her pocket and looked to the little man. He had stepped out from behind the server, understanding it was his best option.

"I'm sorry for attacking you, we don't get many authorized visitors here, and most of those call us to them, not wander around like you." she had a good view of him now: he truly was a wisp of a man, hunched slightly. His face covered by the goggles and a breathing apparatus with tubes heading behind his neck. His body covered in a tight neoprene suit of black and red. He rubbed his hands together lightly. He seemed nervous still.

"Take me to the central terminal, I need to access privileged information." he shook his head, his mask reflecting the lights of the servers.

"I'm sorry, but I doubt you have the clearance to get into the chamber, let alone access the terminal." he seemed happy with himself, trying to win in some way against the woman who heard him coming.

"I'm acting directly on the orders of President Asami Sato and have access to her clearance levels, show me to the chamber or I will take you down again," she reached into her coat and drew a pistol just enough to be seen, "with extreme force." he looked at her for a moment before nodding and pointing down another path.

"It's this way." was all he he said before moving down the path. She slid the pistol back into is holster and followed him, keeping her coat open just in case she needed to be quick. If she was even five years younger she wouldn't have to worry about him in any way: he was slow and weak compared to what she had been, but that was then. Now, she wasn't sure she could take quite so easily, but she refused to believe he could win. She had gotten _older _not old. She scratched the scars on her cheek absently as she followed him through twists of the servers. "I'm sorry for judging you so quickly, but you don't exactly look like the normal ones that come through here." she tried to ignore his comment, but she bit anyway as he turned again.

"And what is normal for this floor?" he chuckled and lifted his goggles from his eyes.

"Secretaries, assistants. Always people who made mistakes and need to access the files to change things around. Frightened little people in suits and ties trying to fix that they messed up. Not a raggedy old woman sporting a gun with high level clearance like you. No offense." she didn't take any, she knew what she was, even if she didn't like that she was aging she couldn't stop it. She new ignoring it would simply lead to her making a mistake, possibly a fatal one. "I'm speaking of the coat, naturally." he snickered and she reached and grabbed the back of his head, slamming him into a server. "I'm sorry, it was just a joke." she let him go and he rubbed his face, staring at her for a moment before continuing. "The Chamber is just ahead, just follow the light." he leaped on top of a server and disappeared back into the darkness. She cursed under breath and looked around, the severs and mist giving way to dimly lit hallways as she moved forward. She moved down the hallway, following the light, just like he said when she reached a door. Thick ballistic glass filled with white to make it opaque. A palm scanner sat waist high to the right of the door, covered in a small amount of frost and blinking red in several places. She placed her hand on to top of the scanner and it seemed an eternity before the lights turned green and the door clicked open. She took a deep breath and entered the chamber. It was warmer than the rest of the floor, considerably so. The room was small and brightly lit, her eyes taking a moment to adjust. It was a plain room, white walls and a slick black floor with a ceiling made of square lights. There was a simple work station with a monitor and a chair against the wall across from her. She scanned the room and pulled her comm from her pocket, clicking the same icon for before as she moved to the station. She set down the comm and took off her coat, draping it over the chair. It was a moment before the line connected and she readjusted her holster under her arm. It was old worn leather, just like the coat. And the pistol it housed was an old model, built for accuracy and stopping power unlike the higher capacity firearms most people preferred to use.

"What the hell am I doing in here Asami, I don't know what this is." she pulled the chair back and it creaked as she sat, Asami was silent for moment, the only sound being her sipping that damn tea.

"You found the main terminal?" she seemed preoccupied.

"If you mean the one monitor in the little room protected by the blast door, then yes. Now, what am I supposed to do here?" she slid her hands around the edges of the monitor, looking for a power button, or anything else for that matter.

"You are looking for files pertaining to the ship that was attacked, it's new so they shouldn't be hard to find."

"I'll do that, as soon as I turn the damn thing on. Maybe I should rephrase. __How do I do use this___?_" she missed the days when everything was simple, when finding a file meant looking in a drawer and feeling the paper in her hands. But everything changed so fast nowadays.

"Oh, sorry, the architects take a lot of freedom on those floors. There should be a small slot on the desk somewhere, slide your comm into it." she could hear the sound of the tea cup lifting from the plate over the line as she felt around the desk for the slot. It was shaded to be almost indistinguishable from the rest of the slate surface and she had to feel it before she could see it. She slid her comm in and the monitor lit up, passing through a series of automated checks before a simple inquiry bar filled the screen.

"What exactly do I type here?" there was another damn sip before she responded.

"Just start with recent cargo shipments, find the one that was attacked and dig from there." she sounded like it was so simple, and to her it most likely was. But to Lin it was a puzzle, and she hated puzzles. She sighed and closed the line, not wanting to deal with her accidental condescension. The girl didn't mean it, and in the last few years she had never treated Lin like anything but an equal, or maybe a friend. And that was one of the few reasons she got up in the morning. Her job was to help the girl and keep her safe, even if it meant doing some things that weren't exactly... okay. She touched the inquiry bar and a keyboard filled the bottom half of the screen. She felt herself age as she spoke to the monitor, speaking out what she typed.

"Okay, recent shipments to Shen station. Completed shipments, no, incomplete shipments to Shen station, recent." it took her a few minutes of trying different searches to find the ship. Most people who entered this room knew what to do, or knew exactly what they were looking for. But she just had the knowledge of a destroyed ship that had yet to be put in the system. "Most recent shipment to Shen station was an agricultural ship from a harvest planet. Four hours behind scheduled dock. That's it. Okay, type, Class two cargo vessel, seventy-six personnel, hold full of food and parts." she rubbed her eyes and opened the line back up. "It was a simple cargo ship, nothing important on the manifest, at least, not unless the raiders were looking for food and station parts." Asami made an audible _hmm _as she thought of something mid sip.

"Check personnel, see if their was anyone important. Cross reference their files with key figures in the database for matches, maybe it was a __someone__they were looking for, not a __something__." Lin did as she was instructed. She tapped her fingers on the desk as each crew member was checked and compared for any inconsistencies. But that too was a bust.

"Nothing, every crew member checks out, no flags." she read over the specs of the ship, its haul, and the reports from its last refueling when she noticed something. "Asami... the ship was running heavier after its last fueling than before, close to four tonnes. Human error can account for some, but not that much weight."

"Okay, then something was added. But what? And why? What station was it fueled at?" Lin didn't understand the line of logic Asami had most definitely latched onto, but she checked.

"Ox station. Four hundred employees, it's just a fueling station with a public dock. If you want me to try and access the logs from the station, I can, but even I know that would take serious time to dig through every person on the station at the time." she scratched the scar on her cheek again.

"Ox station... that's a mid station between the Core and the Rim. Part of a line of stations." her voice was contemplative

"Yes, any ship traveling from the Rim would need to stop at that station, or one of the others in the line. Unless they wanted to risk the Trader stations."

"Lin, scan the records for all ships that docked in the two days before ours came through." Lin, again not understanding the desire to search for a piece of hay in a haystack, did as she was told. She set the parameters for the search and waited, reading the names of the ships and their descriptions.

"Nothing stands out, lots of private ships and lots of cargo haulers, but..." Lin stopped as a ship caught her eye.

"But you found something I figured you'd find."

"Your fathers personal vessel fueled up at the station a day before our ship did. Your father personally checked records and upcoming schedules for all cargo haulers. There are several reports of him in the system before they were wiped. I'll send you the files." Lin copied the files to her comm and pulled it out of the slot, having found all she was going to find in this system. She had probably raised several flags as it was. She sent the files to Asami and grabbed her coat, rushing to the door and down the hallway to the server maze. "What do we do now? We can't have long before he finds us snooping." Asami drank her tea and waited a moment as the files transferred to her terminal.

"For now we stay calm, I'll sift through these and see what I can find. In the meantime there was a report of a life pod landing somewhat intact in the city, near the edge of the entertainment district. I'll send you the location, they found a body inside and a lot of blood that wasn't his. Speak to the first officer at the scene, Changpu, and ask him what he saw. I don't think his story matches the truth too well. Talk to me after." the line clicked and Lin cursed under her breath as she rushed back the way she came. It was cold and long but she found the lift doors and sighed in relief as they opened and she stepped inside. The little guard was standing on the other side of the door way, almost waving.

"I take it you were never here?" he asked, lowering his mask and smiling with crooked teeth.

"That depends, do you like having internal organs?" Lin said forcefully. His smiled widened, showing off his yellow mouth.

"Question asked and answered." the doors shut as Lin clicked a floor button. The lift whirred and tugged as it climbed the dozen floors to the shuttle garage. It slowed and stopped and the doors opened with a hiss and Lin made her way to her shuttle. It was a plain civilian model, nondescript in appearance. It's long, curved cockpit and boxed rear blended with the other shuttles one would find. After she climbed in and set the course she rested her head against the seat as it took her to where she needed to be. She looked at the window and watched as the tall towers gave away to factories and heavier traffic. She passed the border to the entertainment district and the buildings lowered and changed from bleak factories belching smoke to colorful buildings covered in neon signs. She counted club after club and bar after bar as she passed through the district. Again the buildings started to change, from the dirty clubs to the residential high rises. She sat up in her seat when she saw a tower with a gaping hole in the middle, smoke still poring out of several floors where the pod tore through. She took manual control and slowed the shuttle, pushing lower to the floor of the city, following the damaged buildings where the pod bounced from one to the other. After a time she reached the ground, crowds having formed and riot forces standing in a line while detectives dug through the trail of destruction behind the nearly destroyed pod. She set the shuttle down outside the scene, kicking up bits of dust and debris as the engine whined and shut off as it connected with the ground. She stepped out and looked back at the path the pod took. It had torn chunks from building and torn holes in other before ripping up the pavement, creating a rift at least a hundred meters long.

"I don't think anybody made it out of this one." she moved to the crowd, pushing through the people, all trying to get a better look at what destroyed their homes. She made it to the line set by the security forces and tried to pass when an young officer stopped her. He wasn't large, his ego coming from the badge and the gear rather than his skill.

"Sorry ma'am, no civilians beyond this line so go to the back with the rest of the rabble before I make you." he had a slight smile. He enjoyed his job, but he was like most of the public forces in the Sato Security Force: deranged cowboys looking for a reason to be violent. He flung open a collapsing baton and pressed it to her chest. She kept her composure and looked past him to the pod. It was burnt to a crisp and most of the external parts were missing as it sat in a pile of torn up pavement. But she needed to see inside and she couldn't do that from where she was. She looked back to the man, opening her coat and flashing her badge and gun, perks of her job. He looked at her badge for a moment.

"Get out of my damn way before I beat you with that thing" He collapsed the baton against his leg and stepped aside, keeping his mouth shut. "Good job." she passed him and made her way through the trail of destruction to the pod. Detectives and forensic personal were sweeping the area as she climbed the small pile of rubble to the pod. She looked inside and found it to be flipped over, a man dangling from his seat. She frowned at the sight and backed away, grabbing the arm of one of the detectives. He spun and looked at her, spotting her badge and giving a nod. He was younger, but old enough to have enough years on the job to learn to hate it and still see the value in it. He eyed her for a moment, the peak in his black hair waving in the wind and his brows furrowed over narrowed, almost orange, eyes.

"Can I help you ma'am? I'm detective Mako." he tone was respectful, but rushed with a hint of distrust. But she had expected that.

"Yes, detective Mako, you can. I'm looking for the first officer on the scene, Changpu. I need to speak with him." he looked back to the pod and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry ma'am, he was dismissed when I got here. If you need to talk to him I'm sure you won't have much trouble finding him." he turned and made his way back to the pod.

"Great," she pulled her comm from her coat and opened a line to Asami, "Ms. Sato, another problem." Asami sighed.

"Of course."


	4. Only Half That Matters

**"******Only Half That matters"****

"Dammit, Chang. What did you do now?" Mako grumbled to himself as he climbed through the blown out hatch of the life pod. He took one last look at the woman as she turned and left, her coat rustling in the new wind. He felt another shiver down his spine as her thought of her eyes: a pale green that had seen more than he could imagine. __Private Sector, she could kill me and toss me aide like a toy and no one would bat an eye___. _He shook his head and dropped a foot to the roof of the pod. Glass crunched and he took a moment to shine a light around the pod. The whole thing was a wreck: from the man hanging from the chair the the busted and burnt electrical panels. He stepped over wrenched metal to reach the busted control panel, and the man hanging from his seat. His uniform was torn, burnt and bloody. Its original color hard to discern. Over the time he spent hanging there the blood had drained slowly drained from his body, pooling below him. Mako made sure to avoid the pool of crimson as he moved the mans arm, looking at the logo on his shoulder. It was stiff and his skin was pale and discolored.

"What do we got?" Mako turned and saw another detective shine a flashlight around the pod. He was bald and young, dark skinned and new fresh faced, a new addition. _Sai, I think_. His coat rustled as climbed in. "Why do we have a life pod here? And what's with the dead guy?" Mako motioned him forward and had him shine the light on the logo. "What sort of flower is that?"

"I don't know," Mako pulled a camera from his belt and took a photo, clicking a few buttons. "But I sent it back to HQ, maybe they can figure it out. My question is, what is he doing inside a Future Industries life pod." he switched on the light on the camera and looked at the control panel, recording as he went.

"How do you know it's FI? I thought all Sato ships had super high tech stuff, not this old hunk-a-junk." Mako moved the camera and found what actually killed the man. He put his hand over his mouth and looked away, resisting a small gag. He calmed himself quickly. __Just part of the job.__

"Looks like part of the control panel exploded and lodged itself in his chest." he turned back to the other detective, panning the camera along the rest of the pod. "My brother is in FICE, he says that they switched out the pods a few years ago for most ships but some of the flight crews kept the old ones. He swears by these things, says they're the safest model they ever made." the other detective knelt down next to the pool of blood, taking a deep breath and groaning as a few more drops of crimson fell from the mans mangled chest.

"Irony at it's finest, killed by a life pod." he laughed at his own joke and stood up, looking over the dead guy. "Any idea what this thing came from? I haven't heard any news about things going wrong space side." Mako had been asking himself the same question, Bolin's ship was supposed to get in that morning. But so were several others.__He's fine, calm down___. _Mako took a deep breath and noticed something on the roof of the pod under his feet. "I think your brother might be wrong about this pod though, this guy didn't make it." Mako knelt down and looked at what he saw. He pulled a glove from his belt and slid it on and wiped a finger in the small black patch.

"Hey Sai, I got something." Sai cursed as he stood and smacked his head off the arm of a seat. Mako rolled the wet powder in his fingers and scanned around with his light. He noticed something under a piece of bent railing and pulled it free.

"What did you find that the others didn't?" Sai said lazily as he stood over Mako, joining his light to Mako's and seeing the splotches of blood.

"Blood, gunpowder and this." Mako held up the half a shotgun shell and showed it to Sai.

"What happened to it?" he asked and Mako looked at it closely. It had been cut in half behind the shot and in front of the powder.

"Someone cut it." Sai knelt down next to him.

"No shit, I mean, why?" Mako looked around again, pulling an evidence baggy from his belt and dropping the shell inside.

"I don't know, maybe we can get prints from it. But there was someone else on this pod." Sai cursed under his breath and fell backwards with a surprised yelp.

"Think it'll match __that__?" he said, pointing at something and swallowing. Mako saw it then as well, he frowned and lifted it up. It was half a finger.

"Well, this is nice." he spoke quietly as he pointed the camera at the digit. "Darker skin coloration, slender. I think this was cut from a woman's hand." Sai regained his composure and cleared his throat, acting as though he hadn't been startled.

"Looks like it was torn off to me." Mako put the camera back on his belt and had Sai hold his light up to it.

"Look there, the wound is ragged and the bone is smashed, but here," Mako pointed his finger at the other side of the partial digit. "But the rest was cut off." Sai mumbled an agreement as they stood, Mako put the finger in another baggy. "Let's get this stuff back and see whats going on." they made there way back over broken glass from the panel and past wrenched metal and climbed back out the pod into the night air. Mako took a deep breath as he moved from the pod. He stopped one of the other investigators from the forensics team, holding the baggies up to him. "Maybe try to find everything next time." the man scowled and walked away as Sai came up behind him.

"Well, this is going to be a fun one, if they don't start an internal investigation and cut us out. Hey, who was the lady?" Mako squinted at the portable lights being set up around the area.

"Private Sector." he said, a drop of rain landing on his shoulder with a wet thud.

"Of course she was, how close to the top?" Sai pulled his Jacket over his head and moved under the cover of a nearby building. Mako slowly followed him.

"Pretty close, she had one of those Tower badges."

"Like, the FI Tower, one of those badges?" Mako shook his coat and started walking away form the scene, Sai following him. The rain started to pour, the sounds of the world becoming drowned out as the water landed on everything, the sound of it hitting buildings and signs as shuttles passed and people clamored to see past the security line. Mako shoved through the crowd and turned down a side street to his shuttle.

"Yeah, I'd bet she was ex-SSF too. She had that air about her." Sai laughed for a moment before realizing Mako was serious.

"You mean that, __I am going to kill you and dance on your corpse__, air?" his laughing stopped as the rain again started hitting him. But Mako seemed to ignore it.

"Yeah, that air. She was looking for Changpu. Said she had some questions for him." he thought to the small man. He didn't know him too well, but knew he was a good guy, even if he was always in trouble.

"He was first on the scene right? Well definitely screams __odd___._" Mako joined the people milling down the street and cut through them to make his way to a garage.

"Yeah, either he did something really stupid, or they aren't telling us the truth." Mako stopped and took a deep breath, turning to Sai and handing him the baggies.

"Take those back for me." his voice was flat and Sai nodded before realizing what had happened. He turned around and saw the news panel and read the headline as it scrolled across the screen. __A Future industries cargo vessel, the SSC Turtle Shell, broke apart in orbit only an hour before scheduled docking when it's engine ruptured, an after affect of recent damages from a renovation to the drive core. All hands lost___. _Sai looked at the ground for a moment, thinking back.

"Oh no, Mako... I'm so sorry." he couldn't find the words to say, his attempts nothing more than a jumbled mess. "Oh... Mako... yeah, I'll take these back." he put his hand to his mouth and Mako didn't move. "Hey, Mako, the numbers are never right, and we know someone else was on that pod, I'm not saying... there was a lot of debris and we haven't gotten to it all. Maybe there are other pods, or some made it too..." Mako turned around and stared him down. He put his hands in his pockets and rolled his shoulder.

"Sai... I'm going to get a drink, tell the Captain I'm going to..." Sai nodded and placed a hand on Mako's shoulder and gave a sad smile.

"I'll cover for you. Just... I'm so sorry." he couldn't find anything else to say. He pretended he didn't see the tears in the corners of his eyes or the slight shake in his shoulders. He patted his shoulder and turned around, making his way out of the alley, ignoring the sound of Mako's fist smashing through the screen. Mako tried not to cry, he tried and almost succeeded, a small sob pulling itself from him. He took a deep breath and regained his composure, pretending that he didn't feel the tears in the corners of his eyes. He took a deep breath and started moving again, his tears hidden by the rain.

"Dammit Bolin..." he stopped when his comm chirped. He tried to ignore it, but decided it would be best if he thought of something else. But he never looked at it, he never looked up from the ground as he climbed into his shuttle and he didn't move as it lifted from the ground, taking him away. "You were supposed to be here." he took deep breaths, the sadness dissipating, being replaced by anger. He shouted and slammed his fist into the controls of the shuttle. It beeped a warning and he hit it again, and again and again. He covered his eyes and felt his comm vibrate in his pocket again. He ignored it, again. The engine whined and the sound of rain hitting the shuttle pushed his thoughts back to when Bolin left. It was Mako's idea, he thought it would be good for Bolin to have stable work to keep him out of trouble. He had kept him safe for so long. He reached into the passenger seat, pulling the scarf into his lap. He ran his thumbs over the worn red fabric and thought of the day he left.

"_No, Bolin, you should go."_

"_Are you sure, I don't know if you'll make it far without me."_

"_Ha ha. This will be good for you. You'll be safe and you'll be getting paid. And even if you quit after a few years, you'll now some helpful stuff. I wont let us go back to the under city, Bolin, we've come too far."_

"_I know, but, what about you? You haven't relaxed since mom and dad..."_

"_I'll be fine Bolin, I'm joining the SSF, or the public division at least. I can help people. And besides, we can talk all the time."_

"_I... I'll miss you bro."_

"_Bolin, don't cry. Seriously, I can't handle you crying right now."_

Mako smiled, a sad smile as he thought back. The engine whined down as the shuttle landed on the automated pad. The rain continued to pour as he stepped out of the shuttle, wrapping the scarf around his neck. His comm rang again and he ignored it as he jogged across the platform to the bar lift. There was a crowed but he passed through them, ignoring them. He finally made it to a lift and stopped any others from getting on with him, they protested till he showed his badge and gun, then they backed away. The doors shut and he leaned against the side of the lift, trying to ignore the comm ringing in his pocket. After a moment it wasn't hard as the heavy bass from the bar music filled the air. The lift opened and he was nearly deaf in an instant in the wave of people writhing to the music. But it was the bar he went to, planning on losing himself in a bottle.


	5. The Order of Things

**"******The Order of Things"****

"Does he have a history? Anything I need to worry about?" Lin stifled a yawn. She had to rub the dreariness from her eyes, looking out the shuttle window and over the city. The lights of the control panel had become ever so bright in last few moments. She wasn't going into this completely blind, but even on the job her thoughts continued to drift to her bed.

"Not really, only a year or so on the force, basic training. He has a couple of citations for negligence, but it's all evidence stuff. I don't think this guy has ever even fired his weapon." Lin closed her eyes for a moment, shifting in her seat and looking up through the glass roof of her shuttle as thunder cracked and lightning flashed in the sky. She felt it too, the rumble in her chest even with the constant hum of the shuttle engine behind her, she felt it. "Lin, can you hear me?" she blinked and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, listen, Asami, if this guy is such nobody why am I going to him?" there was another crash and the shuttle vibrated again. __The storm is getting too heavy.__She thought, lazily. __Any worse and shuttles will start getting grounded.__She didn't care about the shuttles, but she knew first hand what happened in a shuttle crash. It was not something she wanted to experience again. __You always had to run, didn't you?__

"Because he was first on the scene of the crash." she stated it rather than said it. Some gleaming obvious fact.

"Then why not read his reports and be done with it? I know you have them in front of you." Lin spoke with an agitated tone in her voice. Helping Asami solve the reason for the attack was one thing, but at this point it was looking like it was just desperate raiders.

"Because, he said he found the shuttle and there was only on person inside." Lin shook her head.

"And there was only one dead guy inside when I was there. If there were others they would be in custody and you'd have me throwing my badge in the faces of the entire department." she reached under her coat and rubbed a thumb on her badge, a Tower badge. It meant she was an investigator for the corporate bigwigs. The kind of investigator to make internal affairs sweat.

"And you didn't investigate like you should have. But I understand, there were a lot of cops and you don't like drawing attention. A safe bet, but maybe not the winning one." the winning bet. It was always the winning bet with her. All or nothing.

"What if it really was just raiders attacking out of desperation. And what evidence is there that there was anyone else in the pod? I know how much you want there to be some mystery behind this that you can solve and feel good at the end of the day, but sometimes things just happen Asami." ever since she chose her, Asami had her running around: playing private investigator for her, finding the dirt she couldn't get with her computers. And more than once they had stumbled across something, some hints at espionage or dirty dealings from her fathers records showing that he always had his own agenda. But more often than not, it came to nothing and Asami would sulk, drinking that damn tea with a defeated look in those green eyes of hers.

"Nothing was taken. From the ship I mean, nothing was taken. Station salvage ships found all the cargo just floating around." Lin sighed. Another piece of evidence that fell under the _weird _category.

"The Turtle was destroyed, so there was fighting. What if the crew destroyed the ship in a last ditch effort to stop the raiders. Point defense guns only do so much." it sounded strange as she said it. She quickly realized what she had done.

"Why would they self destruct if their haul was just food and factory parts. Self destruct protocol is used only when something extremely valuable is on board. Not fruit." she sounded almost defensive. Like she had to protect her logic and keep any holes from pooping up. Lin didn't respond, because she could very well be right. __What sort of Captain would give a self destruct order for agricultural cargo?__"Besides, Changpu here lied on his report."

"How do you know that?" the screen in her dash beeped and flashed as more thunder rocked the sky. She tapped at the screen, setting the controls to manual and flying the last few moments on her own. She trusted the shuttle to get her close, but never all the way.

"The pod's hatch was opened from the inside." Lin pulled the shuttle from the flow of traffic, away form the zooming of the ships and the wiring of their engines. The building was low and old, beaten down and out of the way. Not the best housing. No, the more money you had the higher up you lived, and a low level cop could barely get off the ground. __At least it's not in the under city.__

"And?" it was a clue, or a coincidence. Lin had never been one for betting on an answer before she was sure. She set the shuttle down with a thud and stepped out onto the landing pad. She put a small communicator in her ear, pulling her coat over her head and rushing to the entrance the building.

"And, I get the feeling our dead guy hanging upside down in the pod didn't pull the release. Which means there was someone else in the pod and they got out. Changpu's report says he got to the scene just after the crash. So, either he just barely missed whoever else was there, or he let them go. So, either way he knows something we don't." Lin thought back to the pod, and the glimpse of the dead man. Still strapped into the seat and his arms dangling. _I guess the detectives started doing their jobs_. She thought of the young detective. He was different from the others. The lobby was empty, with yellow walls that had either faded or had once been white. The painted had faded and chipped in places, and was stained with all sorts of things in others. There was water damage above her and the lighting was dim, at best. Steam poured from pipes poking out of the walls and had created puddles on one side of the room. The water pools were the obly place where the floor wasn't filthy.

"So you have the photos from the scene?" the building looked looked like it was on it's last leg, and she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. "What floor is his room on?" she moved across the lobby, eager to leave the space.

"Room four-eight-two, six floors above you. And yes, I've stared pulling the files from the departments database, but their tech is horrible at best and it's coming slowly. Right now it's... wow, that's a terrible way to go. Killed by a life pod." there was almost a laugh in her voice and Lin could almost see the smile as she heard a sip of tea. She waited for the lift, the motor whirring as it descended the cables. __This place really is the bottom of the barrel___. _It was a somber thought that gave her an appreciation for what she had.

"If you think it's so great, why don't you come out here with me sometime." it wasn't a sincere gesture, or maybe it was. Lin had always been curious about the idea of getting the young woman from her office and really into the investigating she loved so much. The lift dinged and the doors slid open and two men almost rushed into her. They were rough, with high cut hair and dirty clothes on would find on under city thugs. They quickly moved past her and out the building, but Lin noticed how they moved. They were controlled, too controlled for how they dressed. She waved it off and pressed the floor button.

"Don't tease me with that Lin, you know how much I would love to be out there with you. But if I was there, who would be here staring at computer monitors and reading reports?" __and the tea, who would drink all that damn tea?__The lift dinged as it ground to a halt and the doors opened with a loud squeak. The hallway wasn't much better than the lobby, with the same walls and dingy lighting. Most the doors had chips missing or dents where people bothered to replace them with metal instead of wood. She looked at the numbers as she made her way done the hall.

"I don't know Ms. Sato, but I think you would love this place I'm in. the feeling that I'm going to be stabbed is only slightly higher than if I were in a knife fight." Asami laughed over the line as Lin rounded the corner. She immediately knew which room she was looking for when she saw a door had been smashed open down the hall. Lin tensed for a moment, slipping to the wall and drawing her pistol in deft move. She checked the magazine and the chamber just to sure as she moved down the hall. Her feet were swift and she kept calm as he moved next to the door, peaking in through the gap.

"Oh my, that sounds amazing, but I'll have to pass. Some more photos just came in I think Changpu has some real explaining to do." Lin only half heard her as she took a deep breath and shoved into the room, pistol at the ready. She scanned around the room, looking for signs of life or movement, but the small room held neither. She took a deep breath and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"Well, he wont be answering any questions anytime soon." she moved through the small apartment, stepping over broken chairs and shelves, looking in the bathroom and holstering her pistol after deciding there wasn't anyone else there. She looked back towards the hallway, and the chair set in front of the screen in the corner.

"I take it that he's dead?"

"Yeah, burglary gone wrong. Or at least that's what they want it to look like." she stepped around the chair and looked at the corpse. He was bruised and covered in cuts, blood running down wounds along his neck and chest. It was a gruesome sight but Lin pushed down the feeling in her gut.

"What does that mean?" the room was trashed, everything was either broken or thrown aside. But nothing was moved with the intentions of finding valuables. It was all controlled chaos.

"It means that someone came here and tortured our guy to death. They made it look like it was a robbery. And his wounds, how he died, looks like the kind of things done on the Rim." she looked around at the broken items on the floor. Pictures and plates, anything close to him when he died.

"I take it you aren't happy with that answer?" she seemed distracted again. Lin dusted away some broken glass and moved an old picture frame and found a smashed data pad.

"No, it__looks___ l_ike stuff on the rim, and all the destruction was done purposefully. But it's all too controlled to be raiders or thieves." Lin thought back to the men at the lift, dirty and dangerous looking, but composed. "I found a smashed data pad, maybe something on it. Does this place have any cameras? No, wait, this place is a hellhole. How about the surrounding buildings or pads? I don't think were the only ones digging into this, and I think I saw the guys who did it." she stood and moved out of the apartment, not wanting to disturb anything further.

"Yeah, I'll look into it, but I have something you need to see. I'm sending it to your comm." Lin pulled it out of her pocket, waiting for the file to load, her eyes following the little gear on the screen as it loaded. "I already have a positive ID from the databanks, but I want to be sure. I made the files restricted to stop the Department from digging into it. Is it what I think it is?" the picture loaded, it was a patch on a mans shoulder. A white flower on a blue field.

"Things just got a lot more complicated." _Y___ou always had to run.__

"That's what I thought, it's a shame you don't still have that contact. Come back here, I have an investigative team on the way. They'll dig up any more evidence. I know you could use the sleep and I need to work on finding the next lead." Lin rubbed her eyes, closing the line and shoving the comm back in her pocket, a thunderclap shaking the building. __Always moving, blowing around like the wind.__Lin thumped her fist on the wall.

"I'm getting too old for this shit."


	6. Bang Bang

**"******Bang Bang"****

The back of his throat and his ears itched as the bass pumped through him. Over and over the beat hit a peak and changed pace; the mob of people on the dance floor grinding into each other, oblivious to anything and everything. Mako resisted the urge to cover his eyes, the lights flashed a dozen colors as they raced with the beat. He forced his way to the bar, shoving past the couples lost in each others mouths. Past the booths with groups of people laughing and taking the things he would normally arrest them for. But he wasn't a cop, not now. He finally reached it, the clear glass bar filled with a hundred different liqueurs in a thousand different bottles. He had to fight the sound to be heard.

"The hard stuff." was all he told the bartender, and he simply nodded back, handing him a bottle and eyeing the edge of his coat. Mako stared back, twisting the cap off the bottle and taking a drink. The bartender left and Mako ignored the urge to vomit as the alcohol slid down his throat, burning as it went. He had never been much of a drinker, he felt he lost too much control when he drank. Again his thoughts drifted to Bolin, of their childhood in the under city, dealing with the gangs and pervs, dealing with the sick ones who would buy or sell anyone or anything for a few credits. Again he resisted the urge to vomit. __Not now, not yet. __He wasn't ready for it to be true. How could he ready himself for that kind of truth? He took another swig and drifted away from the bar, letting the writhing of the mob carry him to a booth. The beat changed again and with it the world was bathed in red, then blue. Back again and again the lights changed, torturing his eyes. The booth was occupied, a group of women huddled together, laughing as they enjoyed themselves. He plopped down, taking another drink and ignoring the world around him.

"_I'll be home next week. I'm so pumped, these back world harvest planets are so boring."_

"_It can't be that bad, there has to be an upside."_

"_Uh, no, dude, there isn't. We literally sit in orbit or walk around a little station for a few days as they ship the stuff up to us."_

"_Is it pretty? I heard those places have great views."_

"_Nope... I think I can say with expert authority that one farm is exactly like the next one. And the last one. The one before that had a little brown area, I think, but other than that it was the same. OW!"_

"_What are you doing...Bolin..."_

"_No. No, I'm just... no. No I'm not. Okay, I think I can do without the sarcasm. What do you mean it wasn't sarcasm. NO, I DO KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"_

"_Okay, I'll talk to you later bro. You're obviously busy."_

"_No, mister guard dude guy, I am not trying to sabotage... BECAUSE THAT WOULD KILL ME TOO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! Have you ever tried using your brain on the job? DON'T TOUCH THAT!"_

Mako felt himself smile. A sad smile as he took another drink. His smile widened and he couldn't stop the laugh from coming out. It was soft at first, then louder and louder till he had tears in his eyes. But he couldn't tell if they were happy or sad. He didn't notice the woman next to him till she put her hand on his shoulder, wrapping her fingers around the bottle. She laughed with him till he stopped and she just smiled at him. Her eyes red and her pupils were dilated. She laughed again and scooted closer to him, her short dress showing a bit too much.

"What's so funny?" she whispered into his ear with a generous use of her tongue long after her words stopped.

"My brother just died." he spoke calmly and she leaned back, pouting at him, pushing out her lower lip as well as her chest.

"Wow, that sucks." she placed a hand in his lap and she leaned close again. "But I have some stuff that will take the edge off." she slid her hand up and he stared into her eyes, watching as she went from an artificial pleasure to confusion. She looked down, her hand had hit his utility belt and his coat had opened, his badge shining with the strobe lights dancing off it. She pulled back, her eyes wide with fear as she scooted away.

"I'll just pretend that didn't happen." he dropped the bottle on the table and walked away. He fought the current of the mob, bouncing from one person to another as he pushed his way to the restroom. Even outside the door there were couples locked into each other. He thought for a moment about how much he hated clubs, about how much he hated this place. He thought about how it reminded him of the places he spent his time in working as muscle. He pushed his way into the restroom, the music becoming a dull noise buzzing in the back of his head as the door shut behind him. He rounded the corner, the bass still thumping in his chest as he stared at everyone. One wall was a solid metal counter with sinks every couple feet and a mirror that covered the rest of the wall above the counter. The other wall was lined with urinals and stalls. "Get out." everyone looked at him. One looked to his friend, snorting a line of powder and Mako stared them both down. The one stepped at him and Mako pulled back his coat and the guy put his hands up, smiling as he grabbed his friend and they left the bathroom. He was alone now, or as close as he was going to get. He pulled the scarf from around his neck as he made his way to the furthest sink from the door. He ran the fabric through his fingers as he listened to his comm ring again. He set the scarf down, pulling out the comm and running the sink.

"Yeah?" he didn't bother to check to see who it was.

"Hey, it's me... uh, Sai. I'm just... are you in a club?" Mako splashed water on his face and looked into the mirror.

"I told you I needed a drink." his voice was flat and low.

"Okay, okay. I now you are going through a tough time..." Mako gripped the comm tighter, the parts making an audible sound as they slowly bent from the pressure. But he stopped before it broke.

"Don't go down that road. What do you want?" he was in no mood for his sympathy.

"Fine, okay. I feel work helps anyway." Sai was scurrying around the point and Mako didn't like it.

"What work." it wasn't a question, more a statement to make him move on.

"Okay, uh. Changpu is dead. They found him in his apartment." Mako stood straight, shutting off the water.

"Who found him?" his inerest peaked, his grief dulled for a moment.

"A Tower investigator. I think it was that lady from earlier. They already called in a private team and wrapped the crime scene." there was chatter on the other end of the line.

"That's a fast investigation. He was only sent home a few hours ago." he felt like his head was filled with puzzle pieces as he wiped his face on his coat sleeve. Or maybe it was the booze. "How did he die?" he didn't answer right away.

"They say it was a robbery. Some guys came in and smashed the place and killed Chang because he was there." Mako rubbed his temple.

"Since when did robberies require Tower cops? No, that doesn't add up. That Tower cop was looking for him and now he's dead and they handle the investigation, just to wrap it in what, half an hour?" he didn't know if it was the booze or the grief, but he saw something deeper. "Changpu was the first on the scene... that's why she wanted to talk to him." his mind wasn't as sharp as it could have been, but it was still putting together the pieces.

"And? I think you might be trying a little hard here buddy. She found his body and called it in. It happens." Mako was less than convinced.

"Yeah, it does. I could take that. I could take that he died in a robbery. I can take all of it besides the time frame." Mako turned and leaned against the counter.

"What?" Sai simply seemed confused.

"He was the first on the scene to a life pod crash, and he just so happens to be killed as soon as he gets home, with Tower cops after him... that doesn't seem odd to you. All of that happening in just a few hours." there was a sigh.

"Yeah, it's weird." he admitted.

"Okay, well, let me know if you find anything... wait, did you get prints from the shell or the finger?" his mind was spinning and he suddenly felt exhausted.

"Well, no. Nothing salvageable. And remember that clip you got from that guys shoulder, the flower? Well, I tried to ID it and I got hit with a clearance wall. So, maybe you're right." Mako sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the bass pump through the wall. The music got louder for a moment then dulled again.

"Hey, Sai... would you mind doing some digging for me? Just... look for anything out of the ordinary and call me later." there was a pause before he answered.

"Uh, yeah. I'll see what I can find and call you later." Mako heard footsteps and saw three guys in cheap track suits standing shoulder to shoulder.

"Thanks." he said absently and shoved the comm in his pocket. "Can I help you guys?" the one in the middle smiled, his front teeth covered in gold.

"Uh, actually I think you can help us. You see, we heard there was a cop in the club, and we don't like cops." the other two shook their heads and Mako held up his hands.

"I'll leave then." he said calmly and the guy with the gold teeth laughed.

"No, you see, we don't like cops in our club. It's a point of pride for us to be cop free. So when a cop comes into our club, we need to make a point with him." Mako lowered his hands and looked over all three guys. It was obvious what was going to happen.

"Well, right now I'm not a cop." he threw out and the guys laughed.

"Really? Because I see a badge." Mako took a deep breath. His head was swimming and he was tired, but that didn't stop him. It didn't stop him from pulling off his coat and folding it up, placing it on the counter with his scarf. It didn't stop him from taking off his belt and holster and placing them on his coat.

"You guys are lucky. I feel like punching something, I guess you'll do." He took a deep breath and took a step forward, turning to the side and spreading his legs, one fist outstretched and the other held close. The guy with the gold teeth smiled and the other two came charging forward. Even it if was only a second it felt like an eternity as he waited for the fist strike to come. It came from the man coming in on his right, a wild punch. He launched himself forward, deflecting the fist and landing his own in the mans cheek. He knew the knee was coming as he stepped back, out of his knees reach and launched forward again, ducking under a fist to land a punch to his ribs, then his cheek. The man stumbled and Mako felt a fist land on his jawline. He cursed himself as he spun around, grabbing the mans shoulder and throwing him into the counter. He ducked under another punch and kept hold of the man, spinning him around to take a kick and slamming him into a stall door. The first guy missed again as Mako slipped away, leaning back over the counter to avoid a fist and rushing forward, slamming his shoulder into the the second guy, sending him through the stall door. The other guy threw another wild punch and Mako fell back, again and again he slipped the mans angry punches, waiting for the moment to slam his foot into the man's knee. He twisted and fell and Mako landed a knee to chin, sending him into the counter with audible sound of his teeth cracking. He didn't see what the third guy did, he didn't hear the pipes exploding and he didn't hear the grunt of effort as he slammed into the ceiling, smashing a light and sending sparks everywhere. He landed on the tiled floor with a wet thud.

"I told you, we don't like cops." Mako let out a series of coughs and groans as me made his way to his knees. He was wet, everything was wet. Water was freely flowing from a busted pipe on the wall. It was loud, flying across the room and causing a stall door to bounce off the wall of the stall with resounding cracking sounds, over and over. His head was swimming and he felt like he just fell out of a building as he looked up at the guy with gold teeth. He had taken a pose, his legs spread and his arms waving slightly as a stream of water circled him. He smiled and threw his arms forward, the stream passing through the rushing water and exploding into Mako's chest. He went across the room, slamming into the far wall and again landing on the floor with a groan and pieces of tile.

"And I don't like benders." he nearly growled as he stood up, closing his eyes and struggling to take a deep breath. His shirt was soaked, everything was. His clothes clung to his skin, his mind was sluggish, his body ached and his vision blurred. He was hit harder than he thought. He looked at everything, realizing that even on a good day he would have trouble reaching the guy, and today was a bad day. Gold teeth laughed and Mako took another breath, turning his side and waiting. It didn't take long for the stream of water to shoot from the man's hands. It was cold and lightning quick, but Mako darted to the right, his hands barely reaching his holster as a jet of water shot at him, just barely missing his head as he fell. It was quick: his hands yanking the pistol free, the two shots and the streams of water hitting the wall just behind him. The bullets tore through Gold teeth's leg, ripping flesh and smashing bone. He dropped, screaming and writhing and bleeding. Mako rolled onto his back, coughing and groaning. "I'm just going to do that first next time." he ignored the screams of pain. He was to focused on the pressure in his ribs. He touched his side, hissing in pain. "Yeah, guns are better." it was the alcohol talking, he knew. It was the alcohol that made him do everything. It was a struggle to get up from the puddle he was in. his body ached and his mind was fogged with pain. He pulled himself up with the help of the counter. It wasn't till he was standing that he felt the pain above his eye. He felt the cut, the blood mixing with the water on his hands. He looked at the wall, realizing that it was ice being shot at him. __That was close, these guys get better and better.__He grabbed his things, clicking on the belt and throwing the coat over his shoulders. The dry articles of clothing hung on him, soking up the water from his shoulders. on him. He heard the music again, just for a moment before some hapless club goer stumbled into the restroom. It wasn't till he almost fell over Gold teeth that he realized he just stumbled into something bad. Mako looked at him for a moment before picking up his casings.

"Holy crap." even drunk the man was shocked at the sight. The broken pipes, the blood and the three guys rolling around.

"Hey, you. Hey..." the guy looked at him, wide eyed. "Call the cops." he didn't move. "I said, _c___all the police___._" he pulled out his comm, smart enough to do what he said. But he stammered and stuttered when the line connected. "People are hurt, there is a bender." he echoed his words into the phone and Mako walked passed him, ignoring the flowing water as it pressed his clothes onto his body. The music had barely changed, and nobody noticed the gunshots or the screaming. It probably mixed rather well with the music. He pushed through the crowd, shoving people out of the way and staring them down as they tried to shove back. He felt the eyes on his back, the staff obviously confused that he walked out, not the__bouncers__they sent to beat him senseless. __What did I do?__He had a sobering moment when he pushed into the lift. He closed his eyes and listened to the blood rushing in his ears, the music giving way to the sound of thunder and rain. The trip to his shuttle was slow, soaked and sullen. He needed sleep.__As if tomorrow will be different.__

He took manual control, cutting the shuttle in and out of the flow of traffic, the sound of the rain smacking against the shuttle the only thing he could hear. It was a short trip, full of sorrow and frustration. He was angry at himself for letting his emotions take control. He knew what would happen, the club would finger him in an assault. They would wring the Department for everything they could. And he would be thrown in some dark hole deep in the ground. He knew this wasn't over, someone would retaliate. __Not yet, not yet__. It was all he could do to keep from lashing out at the controls before he landed in the garage making up the top floors of his building. The shuttle whined and shut down as he opened the door, the sound of the rain ever present and the sound of thunder drawing his eyes to the sky. It lit up as lightning flashed and he took a deep breath, moving quickly over the worn concrete of the garage. It was old and cracked from years of weight and exposure to the weather, but it was still solid. He looked around the garage as he waited for the lift, moving his coat out of the way, just in case. The lift announced it's arrival with a thud and a ding. He was soaked to the bone, leaving behind wet footprints as he stepped inside. He pressed his floor button repeatedly, trying to make the doors close faster. It was a full minute before he stepped out of the lift, the only sound was the whirring of the motor as it descended further behind him. He made his way through the twists and turns till he found his hallway, his door, and stopped. The lock had been picked and the door as slightly ajar, a faint voice could be heard inside. Mako took a deep breath. __That was quick___. _He drew his pistol, slowly pushing open the door. He stepped inside, the lights were off but he knew his way around, avoiding the piece of flooring that creaked whenever stepped on or the chair he was too lazy to push all the way in. He made his way to the only source of sound. He waited, just around the corner, taking slow breaths to steady himself. __How did they figure where I live so quickly?__He swung around the corner, his weapon at the ready, but he wasn't ready for what he saw.

"HANDS!" he called out to the figure digging through the hallway dresser. The man turned slowly, his gray uniform torn and bloody and burnt. He was covered in scratches and scraps, dirt and sweat coating his face. But all Mako saw were the big green eyes. "Bolin..." Bolin rushed to him, throwing his arms around him and giving a nervous chuckle. Mako pushed him away for a moment, looking him over and pulling him into a hug. It was short and bittersweet, a whirlwind of emotions passing through Mako.

"I know I should have called first or something, but I need your help. Do you have any first aid stuff, I thought you would and wow, you are soaked." his voice is quick and distracted.

"Bolin, what is going on? They said you were dead. All hands lost. Wait, you were looking for it in a hall dresser?" Bolin turned around and looked at the dresser.

"Right, bathroom. And I was panicking, why do you even have a dresser in the hallway?" he bolted in one direction then the other, looking for a bathroom, exclaiming in triumph as he found it.

"I got the place as is... wait, are you hurt?" he grabbed Bolin by the shoulders, looking him over.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to get hurt when your getting shot at and spaced. I have cuts, like, everywhere. Here, and here, and this big one here." Mako narrowed his eyes and shook him.

"Spaced? What do you mean __spaced.__" Bolin blinked a few times, marching over to the bedroom, aid bag in hand.

"Yeah, it was awesome and terrible at the same time. I thought I was dead but she saved me." his answer was simple as he opened the door. Mako looked inside at his bed and he saw her. A darker skinned woman, curled up in a ball, bleeding from several places and shaking like she was freezing. Her breathing was shallow and her skinned looked like she had just been taken out of a freezer yet she was drenched in sweat. He moved closer, slowly, cautiously. She watched him closely with weary green-blue eyes. He looked her over, noticing the numbers tattooed on her arm and her hair matted to her head from sweat. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, her left ring finger covered in a makeshift bandage.

"Don't shoot..." she tried to smile and her arm fell away. Mako looked at his hand, realizing he still had his pistol drawn. He holstered it and noticed the blood on the sleeve of his coat.

"Bolin..." he turned around and saw him standing there, exhausted and weary and Mako could only give a sad smile at the sight of him. "What did you get yourself into?" Bolin scratched the back of his head and gave a big smile.


	7. Spaced

**A/N: I live. This story lives. I hope it continues to live.**

"**Spaced"**

"I thought you could open the door. You said you could hack the security. You said." Bolin waved his hands in Khan's face, shushing him before he could finish. Khan had a small smile as he tried to continue but Bolin grabbed his shoulders and shook him with a _SHHHHHH_. Khan almost laughed before leaning back against the wall of the dimly lit corridor. Bolin looked up from the small security pad and shushed him one final time before continuing to tap at the keys to little effect. He sighed and grumbled, rubbing his blue lit face in thought before turning to the hallway. Unlike the rest of the ship, which was a series of high ceilings and white panels, the lower cargo deck was mostly automated. The ceilings were lower and the lights dimmer, the air thinner and much warmer as the air scrubbers didn't need to be as efficient. Only the holds themselves were climate controlled, hermetically sealed to keep things fresh. Bolin eyed one of the old circle lights and tried to think, but he was constantly distracted as Khan clicked his tongue and tapped his foot on the gray metal of the floor at their feet.

"Really dude?" Bolin looked him the eyes. "It's like you don't even want to get in there. We are on a_ mission_ and your are _jeopardizing_ that_ mission_." he was very serious, speaking in a harsh, but hushed tone. Khan just stared back at him.

"Well, for one, I don't want to get in there. I still think this whole thing is a terrible idea. And two, your mission is, quite possibly, going to get us both fired. So there's that." the lights flicker in sync with a small vibration. Khan looks to his boots, a little startled by the shutter. By the time he returned his attention to Bolin he had buried himself back in the pad, tapping away at various menus and options.

"It's like I barely even know you even know you anymore. How could just change like this?" his voice was sincere enough, but Khan knew better.

"Bolin, we met two months ago. I don't even know your last name." at that Bolin looked up at him.

"Dude, not cool." he turned back to the pad and kept working, ignoring another shutter, another vibration. This one was larger than the last. Bolin seemed unfazed so Khan ignored it as well.

"Come on, just let this go. We both know what's in there. We need to back to our stations." but Bolin ignored, tapping a few last keys when the door cracked open just enough to fit ones hand. Khan stared in disbelief. He had actually done it, he had actually opened the door. He turned away from the pad, a victorious smirk on his lips.

"You were saying something?" he was full of sarcasm and beaming with pride.

"How did you _do _that?"Khan whispered, worried that there attempts had become an actual, successful break in. "Bolin, seriously." he felt nervous at the thought of what would happen if someone came down the lift just then. Bolin cracked his knuckles and smiled.

"Well, if you have to know, and I guess you do, all of these doors have a maint..." his voice trailed of at the sound of the alarm ringing. It was loud, very much so. Loud enough that both Khan and Bolin winced and stared wide eyed at the flashing red lights.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Khan shouted over the alarm. But Bolin stared worriedly at the lights, his eyes bouncing from one to the next as he listened to the alarm. "WHAT?"

"That's not... that's the boarding alarm." he mumbled it to himself. He took a few steps away from the door, any hint of his jovial nature had dissipated. He turned back to Khan, but before he could speak the whole ship shook violently. The walls rumbled and the floor rattled so hard it threw them off there feet and kept them there. It took a few moments to lighten enough for them to stand again. By then the alarm had quieted and an announcement had been given through the intercom.

"All hands, all hands. This is your Captain, we are being boarded, I repeat, we are being boarded. All non essential personnel to the life pods. All security personnel to sections ten and fourteen." they couldn't believe it. It was a call for evacuation. They really were being boarded.

"Bolin, we need to get out of here. Come on." he pulled at his shirt but Bolin stood unmoving. "WE NEED TO GO!" but Bolin simply looked at him.

"Section fourteen is life support. Is the raiders are wearing EVA suits and they breach the hull in a few spots, shutting down life support would _kill_ the entire ship. We can't just let that happen." Bolin had a look in his eyes the likes Khan had never seen. It was serious,_ he_ was serious.

"Are you insane, that's where the pirates are. We have to get out of here before it's too late." but he simply stared at him.

"I'm an engineer, my job is to keep the ship running and you're a guard, you are here to protect it. This is what we're here for, Khan. We can't leave." Khan looked at the lift for a moment, the fastest way to the life pods. The ship rumbled again and an explosion could be heard a few decks above. People were dying, Bolin was right. But this was insane, he was one guy; what could he do?

"Screw our jobs, I don't want to die." he pleaded but Bolin shook him off and began heading down the corridor.

"Then leave, go. Get out of here while you can, but I can't run away while people are dying." Khan gave one last look to the lift before following Bolin, his new demeanor almost inspiring. But he was right, they had to help.

"If we head down this way we can get directly below life support and go up from there. It's a lot quicker and a lot less dangerous." he had broke into a jog. The explosions had multiplied, cannon rounds smacking into the hull were the most likely cause. "All we need to do is get around." his voice, and every other sound, was suddenly drowned out by an explosion and the deafening decompression that followed it. A few dozen meters down the hall the wall had exploded inwards in a ball of fire and wrenched metal, the atmosphere sucked away by the vacuum of space. The rushing air fanned flames and pulled at panels, tearing them off walls and ceilings. The gravity fluctuated and suddenly they were floating, being pulled toward the vacuum. Their shouts were inaudible over the rushing air as they drifted closer to the hole. Khan panicked, shouting and flailing as he was pulled to the gaping hole in the side of the ship. And he continued to panic, even after he suddenly came to a stop. The vacuum still pulled at him, tugging at his body, trying to pull him into the void. It may have only been a few seconds, but it felt like a life time before an emergency blast door sealed the rest of the corridor from the hull breach. It was a few moments for the pressure to equal and for Khan to regain his breathing, still more than shaky at the event. He spun around, floating in the lack of gravity when he saw Bolin, breathing heavy through clenched teeth and with wide eyes: one hand still holding Khan's collar and the other gripping a busted metal panel that was once part of the wall. He had gripped it so tightly it looked as if he was about to break his fingers. Neither said a thing, both in shock about their survival.

"I'm alive, oh crap, I'm alive." Khan muttered to the dirty air of the sealed corridor. The blast door only hid some of the damage, the rest of the corridor was wrenched out of shape: electrical panels sparking in the darkness where lights had stopped working for one reason or another after the decompression. Wall panels had been bent and burnt where some of the underlying systems caught fire. He felt a tug and fell to the ground, the gravity suddenly restored. He groaned at the impact, his whole body aching. He felt Bolin pull him to his feet and look him over.

"That was bad." he said, still a little wide eyed but Khan could swear, Bolin was almost smiling. He looked around at the damage and mumbled to himself for a moment before heading back the way they came. "If we get into the hold we can access the engineering shafts and make our way to life support that way." he called out as he reached the hold door. He looked it over for a moment before shoving his hands in the gap and trying to force it open. It moved an inch, no more. He grunted with effort, his face turning red with effort before he pulled back, blowing into his hands to warm them from the cold air in the hold. He tried again with little more success. Khan called from behind him.

"Bolin, this lift is still working, we can still get to the life pods. Just... come on." he was pleading, he didn't want to leave his friend behind. But Bolin looked over his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"Then go, get to safety. You go, I have to do this." he was stern, but he was sincere. He truly had to do this, he had to try. Khan watched him fight with the door some more, then to the lift and back. He was hesitant, but he made his way to the hold door next to Bolin. His hands were shaky and his mind was cloudy but still he nodded to his friend and together they gripped the pneumatic door, and inch by inch, began forcing it open. There was a sizable gap when the entire ship shook again, throwing Khan into the wall and to his knees. It was too much. He looked to the small gap, Bolin had begun forcing himself through and looked back to the lift, to safety and made a decision; e wanted to live. He stood and made his way to the lift.

"I...I'm sorry, Bolin, I just can't. I can't do this. I'm sorry." he had to fight with the panel some, but the lift came. He looked back at his friend, hoping he was going to follow him, but he had already made it through the gap and was looking back at him. There was no anger or fear or disappointment. He just had a sad smile, and he nodded his head in understanding before disappearing into the dark of the hold.

Bolin was alone now. He didn't blame Khan for running. There was nothing to blame, nothing to be angry at. He was scared, terrified. _And so am I, _Bolin thought. The hold was dark, the only light from the emergency sirens: red lights meant to shine in tandem with the sound of an alarm, but the sound had stopped and left only the lights and the cold air with him in the hold. He moved his way through tightly packed containers, a maze of big, metal boxes. A dozen shapes for a dozen different things, all had the same Future Industries logo painted on them. And it was clear, this wasn't food. _I knew it, _but that wasn't his focus anymore. He had to get to life support, he wasn't sure how, but he knew he had to help. _Somewhere in the back, into the tunnels and from there... _ he wasn't really sure. He didn't truly know what he was doing as he made his way through the darkened maze. More than once he had to turn back and try a different path, barely keeping track of his location. It was like someone pushed all the containers together to make more room. _I guess there is something else is down here. _But that wasn't the point anymore.

He was forcing himself through a _nearly_ too small gap, cursing the slight gut he had developed when he heard something. It was faint, but it sounded like voices. He stopped for a moment, but it was too hard to hear. _Maybe someone else is trying to get there too. _It was a reassuring thought, that maybe he wasn't as crazy as he thought. But as he pushed on through the darkness, stumbling really, he could start to make out the voices. There were two, and they were arguing over something. As he got closer he could see lights shining through the gaps in the containers. None of them were big enough for him to fit through, but he could see the scene well enough.

Where there should have simply been more containers, a space had been cleared and some sort of equipment had been set up. He shifted his view some: controls lined together, various screens and readouts lined the panels. He shifted again, spotting the two men. One was a small man, balding with his face covered in a surgical mask and thick brimmed glasses sat high on his nose. His body wrapped in a thick white jacket to fight off the cold and his hands clad in surgical gloves. He had his hands up in surrender. Bolin shifted again seeing what he was afraid of, a larger man aiming a gun at his face. He was tall and fit, with thick arms and a grizzled face. He was wearing what looked like some kind of military uniform, but Bolin couldn't make out any marking or insignia. _That's one of the raiders. _Bolin watched, trying to stay silent as the attacker placed both hands on the large black revolver as he shouted. The gun itself an odd sight in this day and age.

"Just open the pod!" he had a stern tone, taking a step forward. But the smaller man shook his head, the rest of him following suit. He must have been a technician of some sort.

"I can't, please don't kill me, I can't open it!" he whimpered back and stepped away from the man. His bravery was clearly not his own. They shout things of the sort for a moment, and again Bolin shifted his view to see what it was they were talking about. He knew when he saw it. It was a large pod, gleaming silver and covered in frost. It was taller than either man, and quite large in every way. The front holding some sort of tank or container made of thick red glass. There was a shape inside, barely visible behind the thick glass and layer of frost. Wires were scattered about, traveling from the control to all sides of the pod. The bottom was obscured by a layer of mist, seeping down through the grated floor. He could just barely see behind it, where a floor panel had been removed for the whole thing to hook into the ships power system.

"Open... the … pod..." his voice was forceful, final in tone. He grabbed the technician by the shoulder and shoved the gun under his chin. But again he shook and resisted.

"I can't. I can't." he was almost crying. "Please don't kill me. Please don't." he whimpered and the pirate threw him to the ground in anger. He stomped around to the control panel and typed furiously. But it didn't seem to work as he slammed his pistol into the controls, eliciting sparks and warning lights. He shouted at nothing before raising the weapon at the pod itself. The technician grabbed his vest and screamed something but his voice was drowned out by the sound of three gunshots. Bolin shut his eyes and covered his ears at the sound, each one deafening. They were still ringing when he looked back up at the scene, the pirate had turned and started pacing, the technician had crawled to one of the panels and hugged the corner, his mask gone. Bolin looked at the pod, at were the three shots had landed next to each other, digging into the thick glass but had done little actual damage. The pirate stopped pacing and in one last attempt fired three more shots at the control panel. Bolin didn't duck away this time, simply winced with his ears still ringing. The panels had changed to actually giving a small buzzing sound as lights flashed and sparks jumped out of it. A moment passed and the man raised his head, his attention held by something beyond Bolin's hearing. Another moment passed and he looked to the pod one last time before running into the darkness. It didn't take long for three ship guards to round a corner and raise there weapons at the technician.

"Hands!" the lead guard aimed his boxy old shotgun right at the small man. He stood at the sight, the other guards tracking his movements with their small sub-machine guns.

"You can't be here! No one can be here!" he was out of his mind, oblivious to the fact the ship was truly being attacked. Something in him had snapped.

"Who are you? What is _that_?" the lead guard was shouting his questions, as if he wasn't being heard. The other guards stayed behind him.

"This is property of Mr. Sato, this is his, you can't be here." the three looked at each other, one face plate reflected in another. _Mr. Sato? He did put this here! _ Bolin had a moment of excitement, looking back to the pod. That's when he noticed the glass had raised some, more mist flowing from the edges where it was seeming to open. There was a magnetic thud and the glass raised even more, some sort of liquid pouring from the opening. The technician spun around. "NO! SHE ISN'T READY!" he screamed, nearly attacking the controls. The guards were on alert again, spreading around the pod and aiming their weapons. Another moment, more mist and liquid poured from the pod as the glass finally opened and Bolin saw the contents.

The woman was average in height, but she was fit, with muscled arms and and strong features. Bolin could only stare. She had brown skin and short, black hair. Her body covered in a blue neoprene suit, lined and insulated to keep her warm from the seemingly frozen pod. Her face was covered by a respirator and monitoring wires touched every part of her body. Her head rested to the side limply: she was unconscious.

"Who is that? What is going on here?" the lead guard took a step towards the little man and he started laughing.

"She isn't ready, we're all going to die!" he grabbed the guards uniform and got in his face, spittle landing on his visor. "We are all going to die for this!" the guard stepped back and shoved the butt of his gun in the technicians gut and he went to his knees with a wheeze, his laughing had stopped. There was a gagging sound and the woman tried to cough, the mask holding it back. She looked around groggily with cyan colored eyes and tried to reach the mask on her face, but only forced herself to fall out of the pod to the grated floor with a metallic clang; the monitoring wires snapping as she fell. She landed on her knees and pulled at the respirator, yanking it from her face and pulling a breathing tube with it. She coughed and gagged once it was out, forcing some sort of white liquid from her lungs. Her breathing was ragged as the guards stared at the sight.

"_Hands!_" one called as they aimed their weapons at her, not sure at what was happening or what to do. But she only coughed again and stared at the floor. The lead guard held a hand to the side of his helmet before nodding to the others. They nodded back and took a step forward. _They're going to kill her! _Bolin wasn't sure at first, but his body was forcing itself over the containers. He scrambled and climbed before falling over the other side with a yelp, hitting the floor. He groaned for a moment before leaping to his feet and steeping in front of the young woman, his arms held out in defense.

"You can't just kill her!" he didn't know what he was doing, he didn't know why. The guards stopped and looked him over. Bolin looked back at her, and she looked up at him and he knew it was the right thing to do.

"Step aside. You were to evacuate, leave while you can." he had lowered his weapon some, trying to keep things calm. Bolin stared into the long white visor covering his face. He stared at his own reflection: he was dirty and ragged, but he knew this was the right thing to do.

"I was trying, but I ended up in here... think about what the tech said. Mr. Sato himself put her here! And besides, she hasn't done anything." he was rambling, not sure how to get out of this. The guard shook his head.

"I have my orders, and I have to follow them. I tried to give you a chance, but now you'll go down with her." he pumped his shotgun and raised it at him. Bolin closed his eyes and shrunk slightly, waiting for the round to come. _At least I tried, that's pretty good, right?_ But instead of a gunshot there was sound of another explosion somewhere and the ship shook and rattled as the lights flickered. He heard the sound of a foot being planted on the floor and he felt something brush by him, from _behind _him.

He opened his eyes and saw the woman boost towards the lead guard. She was quick, three long strides and she was at him, shoving his gun to the side and planting a shoulder in his gut. She didn't linger, slipping from under him as he doubled over and moved to the next guard, too quick for him to fire. But he had time to reach out and stop her. It was a futile effort as she slipped through his hands, forcing a knee in his gut and an elbow to his head in one smooth spinning motion, her feet leaving the ground for a moment. The third guard tried to follow her but she seemed to know that he had put his sights on her. She ducked behind the second guard and kicked him towards the third. He caught the man but before they could regain composure she was in-between them, landing punches to one and spinning elbows into the other. It was a flurry of motion as she landed hit after hit with no return, no matter how hard they tried she would slip the punches and land her own. The lead guard had regained his composure and aimed his shotgun at the group. She was busy whittling the men down, striking at their chests and knees and driving them down in fluid motions, she didn't see him. Bolin acted on instinct, leaping out and wrapping himself around the guard. She heard the struggle and finished one with a quick knee to the chin, knocking him on his back. She spun around, tearing the shotgun from the man Bolin had grabbed, moving back and swinging it like a club, landing the butt against the other guard, sending him sprawling. The man broke free from Bolin and charged her, but she spun and raised a foot with a hard kick, her heel smashing his visor and he hung there, suspended by the foot in his helmet before falling as she pulled it away. Two more guards ran in and she spun the weapon in her hands, pumping it and aiming straight at them as she backed towards Bolin.

"Holy... DROP THE WEAPON!" one screamed. But no-one moved except Bolin, backing away slightly from the stand off. The women was tense, every muscle stood still as she stood, aiming at the guards who were still shouting at her to drop it. But no-one fired, no-one made the next move. The ship shook and rattled again, but the the sound that came next was not short of enormous. The sound of wrenching metal and explosions rocked the hold, the floor tore open with the walls and suddenly Bolin was floating... in space. He was drifting away from the ship, watching as it tore in two, the straight lines of the long, square hull bending and snapping as it was smacked with cannon rounds from the attacking ship. It was a small frigate: sleek and black with contoured lines. It was too clean and new to be pirates or raiders. It had a something painted on the hull but he couldn't focus as he realized where he was. He forced all the air out of his lungs and tried to hold still. He watched as the _Turtle_ slowly shrank in size, both from him drifting away and from it being torn to pieces. He watched it all from the vacuum. _I'm floating in space. _He didn't think about his impending death, or how he would faint soon. He only thought about his brother, down on the planet below him. He looked at the ball of green and blue in the distance. He looked at the oceans that covered half the planet, he looked at Jingshen: the massive city where he was born and he looked at the line of shadow were night was falling. And again he thought of Mako. _Sorry bro, I guess I wont see you later. _At this point he had done all he could, he accepted his fate. He closed his eyes and waited to pass out.

He wasn't expecting to feel arms around his waist, to feel someone grab him. He looked again and saw the woman wrap around him, nose to nose. He stared into her eyes, but only for a moment before she looked past him. He felt something solid press into his back and suddenly he wasn't drifting away, they had stopped. He felt in again and they were heading back _towards _the ship. He felt it again and they began to hurl back, staring to spin as their speed increased. He looked around, he was going to faint soon, but he just need a little longer. He saw what it was that had propelled them, the guards shotgun. She had used the force of the blast to change their momentum, to launch them back. The ship was closing in, rapidly, and he knew what he needed to do. He scanned the hull, looking for an emergency airlock. Normally it would be easy to find, but the entirety of the once white hull was burnt or broken. After a moment he saw it, the large indentation in the hull, marked with red and yellow to grab ones eye with the airlock in the center. He pointed at it and looked to the woman and she nodded, firing the shotgun again to change their course. It felt like an eternity had passed as they drifted to the airlock, it was only when they got close that he realized how fast they were moving. It was quick, the change in stance and the impact with the hull. He scrambled for a handhold but started to slip away. She pushed the shotgun at him and he grabbed it, pulling himself back to the door. He felt tired, the lack of oxygen have long taken it's toll. He searched and felt for the handle, sliding around in the void till he found it, the emergency release. He grabbed the large, ice coated handle with both hands and planted his feet on either side and pulled as hard as he could. The ice cracked and broke away as the handle released and the door slid open in the silence. He scrambled in, the woman close behind as he slammed a fist into the activation pad. A moment passed, his vision blurred and faded before gravity took hold and the airlock filled with oxygen.

He gasped and gulped at the air, trying to get as much in his lungs as he could. He coughed and shivered, the heat having left his body. His ears were ringing and he was disoriented, but he could breath. The inner door opened to the sound of the alarm and the panicked footfalls of people trying to find somewhere safe. Bolin looked around for her. She was on her hands and knees, coughing up the same liquid as before, her hand still clutching the shotgun. He tried to stand, and after a few attempts was able to get on shaky feet.

"Come on, life pods are just around the corner." he grabbed at her, trying to drag her to her feet but she fell limp. He panicked, feeling for a pulse, and he found one. But he knew he was still too weak to carry her. He watched as people run by, ignoring him and the strange woman. "Help, please." no one looked at him as he cried out, his voice weak. They all kept going, except one. He stopped and stared, wide eyed at the sight. He looked at her and back to Bolin. It was the man from the hold, the man with the revolver. He started to reach for her but Bolin stopped him as best as he could. "No, stay away." the man looked at him confused for a moment before shaking his head.

"We have to get out of here, we need to get her to safety." his voice was as rough as his face, but Bolin pulled his hands back and let the man pick her up. Even unconscious she clung to the shotgun. "Life pods, where?" he had already started walking. Bolin followed, leaning against a wall for support.

"Just around the corner." he pointed at the turn up ahead.. He followed on unsteady feet as they rounded the corner, it was packed with people. They were panicked, fighting over who got to get in the pods. They had no chance. At least that's what Bolin believed until the man fired his weapon in the air. The crowed screamed and he screamed back for them to move and they did. He pushed and shoved past the crowd to a pod and waited for Bolin to open the door, waving his weapon at the crowd to keep them back. It took him a moment, the controls were mostly unresponsive. _They can't get the pods_. It was a somber thought but they had to leave. The door opened and the ship shook again, causing Bolin to fall in. The man stepped in, shutting the door behind him and stepping over Bolin as he placed the woman in one of the chairs and sat in the main seat. Bolin pulled himself to the other chair and started the launch sequence. It took a moment but the pod decoupled from the ship and began it's slow fall to the planet below. The pod stabilized and Bolin looked at the man. "Why are you helping her?" he was still tired from the whole ordeal, but he felt his strength returning. The gruff man looked him over.

"Why are you?" Bolin didn't know. He just felt like he had to. He looked over the old control panel. It's manual dials and knobs matched the rough metal that made up the rest of the interior. "It's a long story, and I'd love to tell you, but she's imp..." the pod shook and rattled, a stray cannon round grazing the back end of the life pod, sending it tumbling. Bolin was forced into the edge of his seat, the arm digging into his side as they spun and flipped. His vision blurred and his ears popped before everything went blank.

When he opened his eyes he was on the roof of the pod, looking down at the floor. He braced himself for a fall that didn't come. He moved his arms down away from his face and realized the pod was upside down. He looked up the the chair he was sitting in, and at the control panel that was supposed to guide the the pod down. He looked at the busted part, missing a chunk of the dash. He looked at the arms of the man dangling above him. He watched as blood poured from his front to the top of the pod. The missing piece in his chest. Bolin pushed himself away from the body, trying to avoid the pool of blood. He looked around the pod again, remembering the women he was with. And sure enough, there she was. Huddled against the wall, the man's revolver clutched in her hands. He watched her take a few deep breaths before the weapon went off and Bolin ducked down at the sound. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, looking at her. She was tearing off one of her sleeves and wrapping her hand. She had ragged breathing and was shaking heavily when she looked at him.

"Oh, good, you're awake. I don't think I can walk." she was almost smiling as she spoke. Bolin looked at her hands and at the things scattered around her. A cut shotgun shell, the revolver and... he looked away for a moment. It was her finger. He couldn't look at it directly but he looked at her and she almost smiled again. "It was already halfway gone so I got rid of it. Flash cauterization, I think. At least that's what I think I said it was. Wow, that really hurts. Really bad." she looked at her hands again and fell over, passed out from pain. Bolin got close, making sure she was still alive. He grabbed her and looked to the pods hatch and for the first time Bolin saw the city outside. They had made it, they actually made it.


End file.
